Arrgh! I broke the canopy on my Venus 40 that I've had forever. Tower is obviously discontinuing the 40-size Venus - a lot of the spare parts are no longer available. Does anyone know of any other canopy that might fit? Does someone have a canopy (ahem) "left over" that they would care to sell?

Thanks in advance

Jim

Two of our nearby Hobby Shops have the canopies. Or they did have a few weeks back. I know the canopy because I have a Venus 40. However the freight from Down Under would make it expensive. Lets kow if you want me to make further enquires.

Thanks for the offer! The local shops have very little in the way of spares. The "I died and went to heaven" shop in Orlando might (he has everything else), but that's about 2-1/2 hours away and would cost me hundreds just to walk around (sigh)

Thanks again - I'll let you know.

Jim

Hi Jim:
I really liked my Venus 40 too. I have a canopy, but was going to re-use it on my U-Can-Do 46 because it is "almost" a perfect fit. Maybe the U-Can-Do 46 canopy can be fitted to your Venus 40. I also checked the Venus II ARF I still have in the box, but naturally that canopy is larger. hope this gives you some help.
Wayne

Have you talked with "Tower"?....I just received a "Venus 40" wing/kit that had been on back/order for six months....FWIW

Head over to "parkflyerplastics.com" and see if they have anything suitable...

If not.. and if you still have your broken canopy you can fix it!

You'll loose the transparancy, but if you do this properly things will look great.

- Temporarily put painter's tape on the inside of the canopy to hold it together.
Try to replace any broken pieces. The idea is to get everything together as tightly as possible.
If all of the broken pieces make a complete canopy you're really in luck!

- Now put tape on the outside to hold everything together tightly. Cover ALL of the outside.
- Remove the inner side tape.

- Cut a bunch of fiberglass cloth strips of about 1/2" to 1" wide and a workable length.
- Mix up a good bit of 30 minute epoxy then add about 10-20% alchohol to it. Mix that.

- Lay a strip on the inside of the canopy and apply a light coating of the mix. The strip will almost disappear.
- Repeat until you have all of the inner surface laid up, and permit it to dry COMPLETELY ( 24+ hours ).

- Now remove the outer tape.

- If there a seams showing, rough up the area and apply Bondo or whatever you like to fill the seams.
- Sand accordingly & lightly sand the remaining plastic with a fine grit to roughen it up for painting.

- Apply primer, then paint to the original colors, making the final layer a black or dark color to replace the transparent areas.

All of this is much easier and quicker to do than it sounds... most of the time is spent waiting for things to dry.

Wayne - Thanks for the info! I have the measurements and I'll check the guy at the field with the UCD tomorrow. I'll measure his. This would be the easiest "fix".

Tande - Good idea. I'll call them. The canopies have been "late April" until just recently when they were marked "discontinued". Can't hurt to call and beg/sob/whatever.

Opjose - On the way to the field, I got cut off by a fellow on a bicycle, slammed on the brakes and the roll-around toolbox fell over on the Venus. The canopy was very brittle (old) and it "exploded". Not enough pieces to put back together, even if I had kept all of them. Your method is great and I'll be using it on my Ultrasport 1000 canopy which is is sorry shape - but I do have all the necessary pieces. Thanks for the great idea! I'll check the plastics website now, just in case they make one.

Jim:
I removed the U-Can-Do 46 canopy and placed the Venus 40 canopy in it's spot & seems to fit fairly well - covers just enough of the area. The U-can-Do canopy is a bit larger and will probably cover a bit more area at the sides but you can trim as desired. Lenght seems to be very good if not slightly longer. I don't have the Venus 40 fuselage anymore to do a true comparison. I was just getting used to it flying soooooooo nicely. It made me look like I knew how to fly some of the simple aerobatics.
I think I can say I hold the record for hitting the guy wires (4 tall radio towers about 900' away) not for the number if times anyone has hit them, but for hitting 2 different wires with the same plane on the same flight. - Didn't notice the plane clipped off about 5" of left wingtip because it was a bit humid & hazey that day and couldn't see the wires so easily. Trying to correct erratic flying, thinking it was a loose linkage, it finally started to level out, but eventually lost full control as it rolled over a bit and hit the second guy wire 2 towers over. Yuch!!!! These pattern ships seem to take up a lot of room in the air and I didn't realize how far I went. That's the first time in 30 years I've ever hit them!!!
Anyways, hope you find a good replacement. Another thing I just remembered - The canopy from a Thunder Tiger Imagine 50 fits very well too, but it's tinted. I tried that one too on the U-Can-do, but I need to see my volt meters inside the cockpit and it would make it a little harder to read them.
Wayne

Wayne,
Thanks for the really good info! Sorry about your Venus. I've had mine since 2003 and it is my "Old Faithful". It is absolutely the best flying plane I've ever had - and I've had over 120! I have a Saito .72 in it and it is a wonderful combination. The plane has almost no coupling, so knife edge is real easy to do. I'm not a 3D guy, but I let one of the guys at our club really wring it out - wow!

Thanks again. Now I know I'll be able to get her back in the air without the packing tape all over the fuselage.

Jim

Yes the Venus 40 are a great model. Together with the Ultra Sport 40 they would have to be the ultimate in 40 size models.
My original one has a OS 46 and I managed to find another kit, athough being discontinued for some time.
The second one I set up with electric and after some trial and error, now have it performing as good as, if not better that the IC model.